This news article was published under
the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

George at Asda, which is the title sponsor of GFW, is looking for people to work in areas including design, merchandising and buying. Its executives and current employees were also on hand during the event to offer advice and guidance to graduates on how to break into the fashion industry.

Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey praised the announcement as he met fashion graduates and George at Asda staff during a visit to the GFW exhibition in London’s Earls Court on Wednesday evening.

“Graduate Fashion Week is an important event for British fashion,” Mr Vaizey said. “It provides the opportunity to showcase emerging talent and it’s exciting to think that the designs on show this week could be the early creations of the next Christopher Bailey or Erdem.

“The announcement that George at Asda are creating 62 more jobs in fashion for graduates is great news and I hope other retailers will follow their lead.”

George at Asda’s initiatives and programmes at GFW included the Protege recruitment programme, which searched for three graduate designers for a fast-track development programme, and Fashion Apprentice, where Ruth Badger, a former contestant on the BBC TV show The Apprentice, helped to judge business and fashion ideas.